Justice Antonin Scalia: Dean, professors reflect in media

February 18, 2016 — Pepperdine Law Dean Deanell R. Tacha and Professors Michael Helfand and Derek Muller and have written or contributed to recent articles addressing the impact the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will have on the Supreme Court.

Dean Deanell R. Tacha

Dean Tacha was quoted in a McClatchy DC article titled “Obama likely to look to appellate courts for Scalia’s replacement” regarding federal appellate Judge Sri Srinivasan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“I know very little about the politics of the nomination, but I know that Sri would be a truly outstanding nominee in all respects,” former Kansas-based federal appellate judge Deanell Reece Tacha said Sunday. “He is exceptionally well qualified; an outstanding jurist with a powerful intellect and deep respect for the law.”

Now dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law in California, Tacha has known Srinivasan since he was a basketball-playing high school student in Lawrence, Kansas. In an e-mail, she praised his fitness for the nation’s highest court.

“I hope,” she said, “he will be given serious consideration.”

Professor Derek Muller

Derek Muller, a Pepperdine University School of Law professor who has also tracked Supreme Court clerks, said other members of the court may try to help the clerks Justice Scalia hired for next year. But they may not have a place for them until the 2017 term, he said, since each associate justice is typically limited to four clerks (Justice Roberts, meanwhile, can hire up to five).

Professor Michael Helfand

Professor Helfand published an article in Forward entitled “How Will Antonin Scalia’s Death Affect 2 Cases of Jewish Interest.”

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — likely one of the most influential justices to ever sit on the Court — was found dead at the age of 79, the news sent shockwaves through the country. His death has significant implications for the cases currently on the Supreme Court’s docket.

The remaining eight justices frequently split somewhat evenly along the ideological spectrum, leaving the prospect of 4-4 deadlocks as a potential outcome until another justice joins the Court. For this reason, Scalia’s death will likely send parties with cases currently before the Court scrambling, trying to assess the implications of the Court’s current — and potential future — alignment for their own pending claims.